“I’m baffled by the present obsession with transgender issues. I appreciate that everyone’s different and am happy for individuals to arrange their physiology, desire and role in whatever permutation they fancy”.

But why should society be required to reform its language, its census forms and its lavatories around an “ever-growing taxonomy of genders” – “bi-gender”, “inter-gender” and so on? We’re told that the term “non-binary” describes any gender that transcends the “accepted system” of male and female, but feminism has already dismantled the rigid social stereotypes that reigned until the 1960s.

So what is any of this supposed to achieve? Just because someone feels strongly about something, it doesn’t follow that their beliefs have an automatic right to social recognition and endorsement. The arcane debate about transgender identities seems a ridiculous indulgence. There are many more issues in this country – not least the question of how best to help the millions of older people who live alone – that are far more deserving of our attention. (Nigel Biggar,The Times).

My comment: Especially for young people in college this issue must be fraught with difficulty, consuming a lot of time and liable to get you into a heap of trouble if you get preferred genders wrong. These young people are supposed to be learning important subjects at college, preparing them for careers and a lifetime of, yes,learning. Seems to me that everyone should be able to adopt whatever gender description they want, but, judging from comments I have heard, the preoccupation with transgender identity is immoderate. And Epicurus advocated moderation. Let’s use some common sense and judgment … and a sense of humour, too.